Clutchy Hopkins - The Interview That Never Happened

Clutchy Hopkins - The Interview That Never Happened
Questions by Djouls & Nicolas Ragonneau for Paris DJs, early 2012

Who is Clutchy Hopkins? The question still remains unanswered. We met with Shawn Lee in Paris this month, and asked him about his tweet saying he was representing Clutchy Hopkins for booking purposes… The man smiled and replied that he had no idea what we were talking about. Nearly two years ago, we published an exclusive mix of Clutchy Hopkins productions, Clutchy Hopkins' Psychedelic Hip Hop, Funk & Jazz, and since then we've been discussing with different people from his organization about inviting him for a guest mix and an exclusive interview. We wanted to know more about his mysterious vintage funk beats, dirty drums, fuzzed bass, and Middle-eastern flutes, warmed with tape hiss. We know he has been working on this mix for Paris DJs… We know Clutchy is in the studio right now, collaborating with an amazingly talented guest artist. The new tracks are unlike anything we've heard before. As always, details are coming soon… Meanwhile, The Life of Eugene Harrington has been released, it's "an LP featuring Clutchy and another mysterious musician" (listen/buy here). Now months have passed and we never got the replies to our interview questions nor the mix, so we decided to publish our questions anyway, hoping you'll have as much fun reading them as we had writing them.

Clutchy Hopkins - The Interview That Never Happened
Questions by Djouls & Nicolas Ragonneau for Paris DJs, early 2012

01. Do you remember a specific record your father was proud to have worked on during his days at Motown Records?

02. Who were your musical heroes when you were a teen?

03. How did you start in music?

04. Which musician(s) amazed you during your earliest travels, working in recording studios from Bombay to Cairo?

05. How many Grateful Dead shows did you attend? How did that impact on your music?

06. What is the main reason for you to have chosen to be that reclusive?

07. You live in the mojave desert, do you see yourself as a mystic or an hermit?

08. Is there a chance to find a good barber in the Mojave desert?

09. Have you ever met Gonja Sufi in the mojave desert?

10. What music do you listen to while in the Mojave desert late at night?

11. Do you plan on going to Barbados one day?

12. Do the secretive agent The Misled Children wear black?

13. How did the meeting with Odean Pope happen?

14. If so, what instrument is Lucinda hopkins playing on the Misled Children meet Odean Pop album?

15. Tell us about your jail experience from the 80s and your music sessions with other inmates (which led to The Storyteller album)?

16. Do you like reading novels such The Manuscript Found in Saragossa?

17. How did you meet up with Todd Simon (Connie Price and The Lions)?

18. We'd love to invite him (Todd Simon) to do a mix for Paris DJs, do you have any idea which kind of theme he should explore for us?

19. Do you transform every full moon without the Gypsy tiger mask you gave to Shawn Lee to protect you?

Djouls

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